Somaliland Mental Health Building Project Needs Your Help

The Mental Health Section of the Main Hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland first had its foundation laid down in 1971 by the head of the Somali Democratic Republic, Mohammed Siyad Barre. After the return from the civil war in 1988 little renovations were made to the hospital. The Mohammed Siyad Barre Regime finally collapsed in 1991, where Somaliland claimed their independence. Following the turmoil of the war, there was a rapid increase in the number of mentally ill people in Somaliland.

With much improvement and restorations needed to be made to the hospital in order to meet the public’s needs, the Somaliland Mental Health Support Organization, which was founded in 2011, has worked hard to gather as many funds as possible. Currently, SMHSO is working to build an emergency unit suited for individuals who suffer from the first on set of mental illness. The progress of the current construction that is taking place is going per plan and will be completed before the end of the summer. Although this is only a stepping block to the many steps we will need to take in order to truly improve the conditions that the mentally ill people in Somaliland are facing we are happy to announce our advancements towards a brighter future for the mentally ill in Somaliland.

The Human Brain, with all its sophistication, would be useless without its connection to the outside world. Individuals who are deprived of sensory input by being placed in any sort of seclusion or physical restriction from the daily activities of life are susceptible to hallucination. Our very sanity is dependent on a continuous flow of information from the outside world. We have seen multiple cases of patients who have been chained to trees, beds, etc. however this very method of dealing with the mentally ill only induces more psychotic symptoms.

Quality of life has been recognized as an important outcome of psychiatric treatment, the role of self-esteem, self-efficacy and social functioning are key to reintegrating individuals who suffer from mental illness back into the society. With that being said, we hope to not only build better facilities for our mentally ill but more importantly we hope to ensure that they receive the quality care and support that they deserve.

Therefore, we are humbly requesting from the global Somali diaspora, the broader international community and the people of Somaliland to support this project that is costing roughly $85,000. As of now, we have already raised half of the funds required. We urge you all to help however way you can, please feel free to donate.